Conditions of Emigration

Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. 
The pages of history are so dominated by leaders that the student often sees the past as the record fit a few exceptional men and  tends to ignore the thousands of other folks who left no evidence of their lives except a coverlet neatly quilted or a stone wall built straight and solid- Yet those forgotten men
and women who dreamed and despaired, sang, and suffered, were the true heroes of history.
Members of the middle and lower classes far outnumbered emigrants from the upper ranks of society. Some could afford to pay passage money for themselves and their families. Many could not. Some agreed to pay part of the sum and work for the rest, as did Richard Clayton, a carpenter, who in 1628
arranged for the transport of himself and five relatives to Massachusetts. Since many people wished to start life anew in America, and a ready market for their services existed in the colonies, profit-seeking individuals were quick to see and seize opportunities in the situation, creating a "travel now. pay later" arrangement. The system of indenture provided an accepted and thoroughly respectable means by which people without funds might journey across the ocean. Before embarking, the prospective traveler signed a contract, or indenture (so called because it was printed in duplicate with an indented line between the two halves), in which lie agreed with the master or owner of the vessel transporting him "to serve him or his assigns" a certain period of time, usually from seven to nine years, in return for passage.

The traveler at once became the servant of the vessel, The master, who upon arrival in America sold his services to the highest bidder. The indenture was then transferred to the purchaser, who became the master for the remaining period stipulated in the indenture. On a slightly different basis a redemptioner
agreed with a shipping merchant to be transported without an indenture and without payment of passage, and upon arrival in America might be given time in which to locate relatives or friends to redeem him by paying his passage. If he could not find anyone willing to put up the money, he was auctioned off to the highest bidder under the same regulations as the indentured servant. Sometimes the redemptioner would pay a part of his passage and work off the remainder. The costs and risks were high for redemptioners from the Continent, who, with only a verbal agreement, were often exploited without mercy, as were German emigrants of the mid-eighteenth century described bv Gottlieb Mittclberger in his Journey to Pennsylvania in 1750. 

It is estimated that more than half the total number of emigrants during the colonial period traveled under the indenture system. Often their lot was difficult, and they were forced to work long hours with insufficient food and poor clothing in unhealthful conditions. Others lived in comfortable homes with kind masters, learned a trade, and sometimes married into the family. Not all emigrants traveled of their own free will. Notable among such were prisoners of war. In 1650 Cromwell shipped to New England 150 Highlanders captured at the battle of Dunbar who had survived a forced inarch down the coast and an epidemic of dysentery while cooped up in Durham Cathedral.

All were banished from Scotland and sold as indentured servants. Sixty-two went to the Iron Works at Saugus, Massachusetts, where most of them are said to have lived in a wooden house that still stands. Some of their comrades were shipped to the West Indies, where they were dubbed "red legs" for the sunburning of their fair skins. After subsequent Scottish defeats other prisoners were sent to Massa-
chusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, and South Carolina.  Thus America received men of hardy Highland stock, many of whom became respected citizens and progenitors of future high officials, including one Justice of the Supreme Court—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

"Transportation" to the colonies was considered by many an effective way to rid the mother country of undesirables. Large numbers of paupers and people convicted of petty offenses were sent to the new lands. A Parliamentary statute of 1717 provided for the transportation of certain classes of criminals
and their indenture for not less than seven years. Under this system, more than 50,000 convicts were shipped to the colonies. One such shipload mutinied en route, as recorded in The Virginia Gazette of September 17-24, 1736.

 A little-known and pathetic class of emigrants were the thousands of children and young adults who were lured or forced upon vessels in a harbor, transported to the colonies, and sold as servants. The men engaged in this "spiriting away" were called "soul-drivers." So widespread was the practice that in 1664 the Committee for Foreign Plantations interposed, condemning the action of
the "spirits" and requiring the registration of all emigrants' names and ages. The measure had little if any effect; for ten years later it was stated that 10,000 persons were annually spirited away from England bv kidnappers.

In 1750 Peter Williamson, a Scot, wrote:
At eight years of age, I was playing with companions on the quay. I was noticed by fellows who belonged to a vessel in the harbor, engaged, as trade then was, by some of the worthy merchants of the town in that villainous practice called kidnapping. I was easily cajoled on board the ship, where I was no
sooner than they conducted me between the decks to some others they had kidnapped in the same manner. In about six months the ship set sail for America. When we arrived in Philadelphia the captain had soon enough men who came to buy us. He sold us at £.16 per head. I was sold for seven years to one of my countrymen, a North Briton, who had in his youth undergone the same fate
as myself.

By far the most numerous of all involuntary emigrants were the hundreds of thousands of Africans who were captured by raiders or purchased from African and European traders and transported to North America under cruel and brutish conditions. In the early years, some blacks were brought in under the same circumstances as white indentured servants, being required to serve for a stipulated term
and then freed. One such African, Anthony Johnson, became a freeman and landowner, imported five indentured servants, and helped to found the first black community in America on the Pungoteague River in Virginia. Legislation in the latter half of the seventeenth century legally established the servile position of African emigrants, the majority of whom from that time onward were sold as
slaves to labor on the extensive plantations in the South. 

The heterogeneous groups who made up the population of North America all played a part in the development of the colonies. By their sacrifices and labors and by their sharing of cultures, they built the nation that became the United States of America.

What did the system of indenture provide for those who were a part of it? 

What percentage of people came to America under the system of indenture?

In the 1700s, which 3 groups were brought to the Americas involuntarily?

What was their experience when they arrived?